How to Enjoy Your Time on Stage During a Performance

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 17 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 23,901 times.
Learn more...

Ever had that time on stage where you have just felt "bleugh"? You forgot your lines, corpsed, and/or lose concentration? When any of these things happen, and they happen to most performers, they can hurt your confidence, however the good news is that it doesn't have to happen to you again.

Learn your stuff: No matter what you are doing you should know what you are doing weeks ahead of the performance, lines should be learnt to the stage where they role of the tongue without much thought, this will prove very useful when you begin to feels nerves, they won't be as bad because you won't be nervous about forgetting them.

Can you please put wikiHow on the whitelist for your ad blocker? wikiHow relies on ad money to give you our free how-to guides. Learn how.

Stay Calm: There will be a lot of excitement backstage when everyone is getting ready but remember to keep yourself calm. You can do this by using breathing exercises, find a quiet spot, close your eyes and take a slow deep breath through your nose, hold it for a few seconds and slowly release it out of your mouth, try to feel relaxed as you do this. If you are worried what people will think of you, remember that the audience has paid to see a good show and wants you to succeed and be the best you can be.

Stay hydrated: with the hot lights, fast pace and physical activity, it is easy to become dehydrated which may give you a head ache and therefore put you off, it can also reduce some of the natural anxiety you will feel before going on stage.

Eat something: evening performances are normally after meal times, but usually a performer has to be there well before, so it can be easy to forget about food. This is a big mistake, you will need your blood sugar levels to be up and large amounts of energy to give a great performance, beware of sticky or dairy products as they can line your throat and restrict your vocal ability. Carbohydrates are good but keep some sugary sweets or fruit in your dressing room to snack on during the performance. Tip: Don't eat to much or you will feel bloated eat a small amount in intervals.

Warm up well: To warm up, first screw your face up into the biggest frown you can make. Then, open your mouth so wide, the person in front of you can see what you had for tea! After, do your biggest cheesiest smile! Then write your full name in the air with your tongue. You may look stupid you'll thank yourself you did them when you're up on stage. Repeat this two or three times to stretch your facial muscles. It's called lion face, lemon face. Then, sing a few songs as quiet as you can, as high as you can, in your mid range, in the lowest you can and finally as loud as you can. Finally time for the body, you need to stretch all the muscles in order to gain freedom of movement.

Get into character: It's not just about acting the part, it's about feeling the part. Identify the scenes where your character has very prominent traits and try to conger the emotions up in your dressing room. Just go out there and act like it's your last day on earth. If you're thinking you're too dramatic, you're probably being just dramatic enough.

Get prepared at the side of the stage: Get to your entrance point well ahead of time and keep quiet. This will allow you a few moments to really focus, run through what you have to do in this scene in your head and focus on calming your breathing.

Have fun onstage: If you aren't used to an audience, then don't look at them but remember they are here to see you so they would love to see your face. STAY FOCUSED good actor always stays in character, so try not to laugh at anything, and keep a straight face. If you concentrate on what is going on around you then you will be less inclined to laugh, which is a nervous reaction, and will notice the audience less.

Smile!: Even if you're in the corner, in the back, smile! You'll feel great and that will be reflected in your acting and the audience will notice too! People prefer to look at your face than what your feet are doing so if you go wrong, smile like you meant to do it and no one will notice.

Community Q&A

Being a little nervous is OK (all performers are). Just breathe. Repeat a mantra similar to: 'I love dance, it is what I love. I can do this, I can do this.' Also, try standing like a superhero (hands on hips, standing tall) for two minutes. It will make you feel more confident.

I'm a figure skater and my biggest competition just won a contest. Mine is tomorrow and I'm nervous. How can I calm my nerves?

Community Answer

Do not spend time worrying about the other competitors, and avoid watching them. Focus inward. Spend time meditating and visualizing yourself on the ice going through your routine from start to finish. Visualize the crowd, judges and your family reacting in amazement to your performance. Listen to your music to deepen your experience.

About This Article

wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. To create this article, 17 people, some anonymous, worked to edit and improve it over time. This article has also been viewed 23,901 times.